Call me an old codger, but in my day music dealt with a variety of themes: love (of course), politics, fantasy, drugs, sex (all varieties), history, religion, the environment… in an even greater variety of styles: on a single radio station (CHOM FM in Montreal) you could hear in the course of a day Deep Purple, Carole King, David Bowie, Joni Mitchell, Black Sabbath, Elton John, Marvin Gaye, Roxy Music, Jethro Tull, James Taylor, The Temptations, CSNY, Frank Zappa…

On the other hand, a recent (excruciating) survey of the most popular stations in Toronto revealed the following:

• Wimpy guys whining about relationships
• Slightly more assertive women complaining about relationships
• Both sexes dancing and partying
• The worst of the 70s, 80s & 90s

Uh, that’s about it. And has been for about 20 years. Of course back in the day (as the young’uns say) we had shows like Ed Sullivan and American Bandstand, which favoured originality over crap cover versions (see American Idol). Sad!